The War Within needs a re-work

[Brownybrownpanda]

The War Within was pretty much the most confusing of all the quests in the game thus far (I haven't ventured much farther yet) with weirdly unintuitive parts. Happily, I needn't use a walkthrough, but I assume that for some people it took an unnecessarily long time to figure the now obvious path and were tempted to. I can re-do it easily thanks to the now acquired experience, but it really requires a re-work in some places for players who are yet to start it.

The detection lasers: I know Ordis told me to stick to the side of the ship, but he also said that if I pass through the lasers I'll get detected, so “obviously” you can pass in the places not covered by lasers, like it was in the rest of the game prior. Few times riddled with confusion before I noticed that the lasers illogically can detect anything coming through the opening whether they touch it or not. This one could be easily fixed by simply making lasers fill the entire opening, instead of the narrow band that only represents their concept not the full extent, I'm confused why it wasn't even noticed before the release.

The extraction point to the fortress: the time I could've marvelled upon that vista, which devs obviously wanted us to see, could have happened longer than half a second, were I not trying to figure out where the marker is trying to lead me in the opening before the fortress. Just make an area marker, which beckons to explore without the quest marker marring the view, which I assume was a reason to put it in a place far away from the real object of interest.

The Queen's shield: The dialogue led me to believe that I can disable the shields, but only after the careful notice I found out that it turns off on queen's accord. The red shield is just nigh invisible in the scene already dominated by red, make it purple or bright white, or anything really, because I wasn't even aware it was periodically down. I was just looking for a button/siphon/whatnot to channel the beam into, and only after some time I noticed that the shield wasn't always on.

Void powers' tutorial: Confusingly tutorial on its own is fine, but it was only a bit of time of playthrough after the quest did end that I was informed, not by the game, but by the players, that there are two void power meters. They aren't even explained to exist during the mission, though I figured that one out myself, but the fact that the main meter is for beam only and the circle is for sling and void crawl evaded me. I know that the game intentionally shy from tutorial windows, but it is crucial to explain the UI… somewhere… and not in depths of either the devlog or even buried deep in the menu.

I don't imagine it would be especially hard to implement, and for the new players' smooth experience they should appear, because those really annoyed me and took me away from an otherwise great quest.

[LillyRaccune]

I see this is your first post. Welcome to the forums!

 

17 minutes ago, Brownybrownpanda said:

that there are two void power meters.

The energy and ammo meters are in the same place as warframe energy and ammo meters. This is the definition of intuitive.

19 minutes ago, Brownybrownpanda said:

The Queen's shield: The dialogue led me to believe that I can disable the shields, but only after the careful notice I found out that it turns off on queen's accord.

No, the shield turns off after you destroy one or more of the kuva braids. The braids can only be destroyed when the attacking Kuva Guardians are eliminated.

22 minutes ago, Brownybrownpanda said:

The extraction point to the fortress:

You're right, it would be great to get a clear look at that whole environment. Chances are they installed that waypoint because players were complaining that it was not obvious enough. Differing degrees of non-observation, I suppose.

26 minutes ago, Brownybrownpanda said:

The detection lasers: I know Ordis told me to stick to the side of the ship, but he also said that if I pass through the lasers I'll get detected,

I guess you've never played a puzzle platformer that had a "hide-in-the-shadow" mini-game?

 

Please forgive my criticism. I know you are trying to provide honest feedback, but I'm annoyed because of the arrogant tone in your writing. Feel free to defend your position, I won't argue with you as I've already said my piece.

 

And again, welcome to the forums!

[Brownybrownpanda]

5 minutes ago, LillyRaccune said:

The energy and ammo meters are in the same place as warframe energy and ammo meters. This is the definition of intuitive.

I wasn't even aware where was an ammo meter, again basic UI also needs a table of contents in-game, but at least most you can gather yourself or get by, cause in games hardly ever did I care for ammo count, either you have them or don't. …still no idea what are those numbers in white circles… but I don't think them important and enjoy their mystery.

5 minutes ago, LillyRaccune said:

No, the shield turns off after you destroy one or more of the kuva braids. The braids can only be destroyed when the attacking Kuva Guardians are eliminated.

Maybe they changed it between your and mine playthrough, but to my knowledge, you need to remove all the braids before you are prompted by Teshin to disable the shield. But the point is that it blends with the surrounding, not when it happens.

5 minutes ago, LillyRaccune said:

I guess you've never played a puzzle platformer that had a "hide-in-the-shadow" mini-game?

If in such a game (of which I don't recall playing any, so no, I haven't) you could see the places the light cannot touch other than the instructed area, I would be dumbfounded why those places are accessible and result in detection, the same as with here.

________________________________________

I don't find myself to be asking much, adding more light streaks, change of quest mark type and location, colour shift of the effect, and a table of contents for UI available to be seen in options. I can mod such things with ease in games where mods are possible, and I think anyone can do so as well. Except for nesting anything within the menu tree, but I don't imagine it to be a hardship for a game developer.

I'm not even asking for it for my sake, for I already have the knowledge of the listed flaws and can bypass them with not only ease, but without noticing them, making the problem for me null. It however makes new players of the quest, like I was, the subjects for annoyance, which can put a shadow on their experience of the game. It won't undo my staggering through it, it can avert others'. Before I forget I experienced those issues, I want to give feedback for the game I like, to be a great experience for more people in the future.